


The Unhappy Few

by gleefulmusings



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-16 21:05:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19326094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gleefulmusings/pseuds/gleefulmusings
Summary: Kurt challenges Will's moralizing and unwittingly sparks a rebellion.





	The Unhappy Few

**Author's Note:**

> I believe this was the second or third story I'd written for the fandom, and realized I'd yet to upload it here. I gave it a nice edit and hope it is more coherent.
> 
> Spoilers for _The Power of Madonna_

After the first run through the song, Kurt was bored and rather angry. He wondered, not for the first time, why his presence was demanded for this particular Schuester Moral Lesson.

He understood and even approved of what their director was _trying_ to accomplish, but it was so ham-fisted and virtue-signaling as to be laughable. It was also incredibly patronizing and smacked of mansplaining. The simmering looks of the girls validated his silent criticism.

Yes, some of the guys in the club absolutely required instruction in how to interact with its female members, but this encounter session wasn’t addressing their misogyny, and the rendition of Madonna’s seminal song completely missed the mark.

Rather than confronting the other boys and demanding they get onboard or get out, Schuester cajoled them into performing a song they didn’t understand and to which they couldn’t relate. The song was Madonna opining and lamenting what it was to be a woman in this modern age, sung from her perspective _as a woman_.

This performance reeked of appropriation and pandering.

His frown deepened.

Why was he there? What, exactly, was Mr. Schuester trying to suggest? His eyes narrowed. He sincerely hoped it wasn’t being obliquely implied he was a misogynist, because that was not only ridiculous but offensive.

It spoke volumes that Schuester himself was taking part in this. They had all borne witness to his atrocious behavior with women, and while he had certainly been lied to and treated poorly by some of his lovers, it begged the question as to why he felt all of this was necessary, as well as his own inclusion.

If the man was having his own doubts about how he treated women, that was his trauma, and Kurt was not about to be forced into some asinine male bonding ritual simply because he was in possession of a penis.

This entire activity was idiotic. People didn't change their prejudices because of a song. If the emotion and understanding that was supposed to fuel the lyrics was absent, what was the point? What was this to prove, when it was apparent there was nothing but confusion and resentment?

Puck was acrimonious and bitter. Finn, as was his wont, had jumped on the Schuester bandwagon and demanded everyone navel gaze, though it was obvious he was unsure what supposed to glean from this breast-beating exercise in futility. Mike and Matt were going along to get along, as they so often did.

Well, Kurt had had enough, and felt no compunction about calling an immediate end to this farce. He looked up and glared at Schuester, his eyes turning a flinty gray.

"Why am I here?" he demanded.

Will gave him an exaggerated blink and then sighed in disappointment, which only served to stoke further Kurt's ire. "I thought I made my intention clear."

"To everyone but me. Mr. Schuester, I am not a misogynist. My best friend is a woman. In fact, all of my friends are women."

Puck snorted.

Finn frowned. "I thought I was your friend, Kurt."

Kurt glanced at him. Yes, they were friends, if friendship was measured by the amount of time one friend spent listening to the other whine about the two women in his life who weren’t paying him the attention he felt he deserved.

“We all have something to learn here," said Will, his righteous indignation failing to cover his condescension.

Kurt raised a brow. "And what, precisely, am I to learn from this, Mr. Schuester?"

Will gaped. Faced with a pointed question, he found he had no ready answer.

"Am I to assume, then, that these singing sermons will be extended to the other minority members of Glee? Will we gather around this piano and sing the score of  _Fiddler_  so that we can all better understand what it feels like to be Jewish, à la Puck, Rachel, Artie, and Tina?"

Puck swung his gaze from Kurt to Will, a quizzical look on his face. Artie honked out a laugh as Tina covered her mouth with a hand. Rachel tilted her head and regarded Kurt with a thoughtful expression.

"Or perhaps, as the Spanish teacher, you have some suggestions about Latin songs we might co-opt to better understand how it feels to be Santana Lopez, one of the few students of Hispanic descent at this school. Perhaps a spiritual in honor of Matt and Mercedes?"

Santana leaned back against the jamb of the door and smirked. Mercedes sent several snaps his way. Matt placed a strong hand on Kurt’s shoulder, silently urging him on.

"What next? Are you going to aid us in discovering how it feels to be Asian? Are you even aware that Mike and Tina have completely different heritages? Do you have a song for us to sing about being in a wheelchair or an unwed teenage mother?"

He shot Will an icy smile. "Or how it feels to be gay?"

Will set his jaw, feeling cornered. "What are you trying to say, Kurt?"

"You are this club’s director. If you were truly interested in equality, you would make it a condition of membership. This isn’t about acceptance; this is nothing but an exercise in self-congratulatory thinking.

“You stand here and demand the men of this club treat women better, asking us to think of Mercedes, Tina, Santana, Quinn, Rachel, and Brittany as our mothers or sisters or daughters, but that completely misses the point. Phony relationships shouldn’t have to be imagined for you to treat women with respect. Speaking to someone with common decency has nothing to do with their gender and everything to do with them being _a fellow human being_.”

“Preach and amen,” Quinn said.

“You are not our parent or pastor, Mr. Schuester; for some of us, you aren’t even our teacher. I resent your innuendo that because I am a man … "

"I thought you were an honorary girl," Puck drawled.

Kurt's eyes flashed at the interruption and he turned toward the annoyance. “Why don’t we settle this once and for all, Puck? Your insults are puerile and pedantic. You’ve been boring me for years. I realize now I am partially to blame for your continual harassment because I’ve been arrogant enough to engage with you, but that’s over.

"Do you know why all of my friends are women? Because women are the only ones with balls big enough to understand my sexuality has _nothing to do with them_."

He raised a brow. "I may be an honorary member of the sisterhood, but that was a title bestowed on me, not one I assumed in a bid for attention or penance. I am still very much a man, one who just happens to be attracted to other men. So, tell me, Puckerman, self-proclaimed stud of the school, just how my being gay affects  _you_?”

“What a good question,” Brittany hissed.

“Unlike you and your fellow knuckle-draggers, I am not interesting in having sex with every person who crosses my path, and I am more than capable of controlling myself."

He snorted. "And just in case it wasn’t clear, I'm certainly not interested in you. Even if you were gay, you would be the last man I would pursue. So why don't you do us both a favor and take a moment to consider why my being gay bothers you so very much?"

He watched with satisfaction as Puck dropped his eyes to the floor, a blush slowly creeping up his neck, before turning back to Will.

"I do not require you to teach me how to treat women with respect. I have been doing so all of my life. I had a mother, an amazing mother, who, along with my father, taught me that all people are equal."

"And you always treat everyone the same?" Will asked, growing angrier by the second at the boy's very valid points.

Kurt's face flooded with color as he slowly exhaled through his nose. Mercedes recognized what was about to happen and began pulling people to safety. Santana pushed her away and bounded forward. This past year, she had wondered just what it would take for Kurt Hummel to come undone. She sensed the moment was imminent and gave thanks she was here to pay witness. It was sure to be _glorious_.

"I treat others with the same respect they pay to me," Kurt said darkly. "And right now, Mr. Schuester, you are firmly in my red column."

"Kurt, listen to me …"

"I think I've listened to you long enough. It’s become painfully clear you plan to run this club without any input from its members. I think the sole reason you took this position was to relive your glory days of when you were on this side of the piano.

“You don't bother to allow us to audition for solos, you simply give them all to Finn and Rachel. That is, when you're not splitting us up along gender lines for mash-ups."

He raised a brow. "Which renders this particular endeavor rather pointless, wouldn't you agree?"

Will tried to interrupt, but was summarily cut off.

"You pick the majority of our songs, choreograph most of our dances, and disregard any feelings we might have about your choices, though we are the ones who have to go out on that stage; we're the ones who have to do all the work.

“And what do we get for it? The privilege of standing here and listening to you lecture us on how we treat one another? What about the way you treat us? When will we get around to discussing  _that_?"

"What do you mean?" asked a confused Will.

Kurt stared at him in shock before throwing up his hands. "Oh, I don't know. How about that you have yet to deign to acknowledge the rest of us have merit other than as glorified backup singers and dancers? Or how you bring in a new member, who just so happens to be one of our fiercest rivals, and dismiss our concerns as petty and beneath you without even bothering to contemplate what we have to say?

"Where was all of this righteous indignation when you were walking by as Puck and Finn threw me into dumpsters every day, calling me a fag? Why did it take my father coming down here and threatening to sue you and the school to allow me to audition for _Defying Gravity_? Why didn't you ask me why I blew that high F, when you know it’s well within my range? Where was your concern then?"

He shook his head. "The fact of the matter, Mr. Schuester, is that you care very little for us as individuals. You want us to win, and I can appreciate that, I enjoy winning, but not at the expense of what little self-respect I have left."

Will calmly planted his hands on the piano. "Then perhaps it would be best to remove yourself from such an untenable situation."

He knew he made a mistake the moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them instantly, wincing when he heard the audible collective gasp.

Kurt said nothing for a long moment, merely appraising Will with cool, calculating eyes before nodding. "You're right. I quit."

He turned on his heel and began stomping toward the door.

"Kurt, wait!" Finn called out.

He stopped and slowly turned around. "For what? This club only needs twelve members to compete at Regionals, and even though I'm leaving, the rest of you still have Jesse."

He slid his eyes over to Will and smirked. "Perhaps Mr. St. James has some other refugee friends, Mr. Schuester, should you feel the need to replace anyone else who dares question you."

His mission accomplished, he grabbed his bag and quietly left the room.

"Screw this," Mercedes announced to no one in particular. "If Kurt's gone, so am I. I don't need no damn club to tell me what to sing and how to sing it."

She snapped her fingers at Will and then flounced away, slamming the door behind her. Tina and Artie exchanged worried glances, Mike and Matt frowned, Rachel appeared devastated, and Quinn was livid.

"I don't need this drama," she spat. "I have enough of my own." She looked at Will and arched a brow. "He was right, you know. I hope it was worth it. Next time, why not just get a ruler? Of course, I'm betting Kurt would still win."

She left without looking back.

"Me too," Brittany said. "I quit, too." She looked at Santana. "I only joined so I could be with you and Kurty, but this isn't fun anymore.”

Santana shrugged. "So let's go."

And with that, they left.

Artie sighed, flustered when everyone turned to look at him. "I want to be with my friends, and most of them just left." He looked up at Tina. "There's no rule that says we can only have one glee club at this school. There's nothing saying we can't continue to sing together outside of it. Brittany was right. This isn't fun anymore."

"No, it's not," she softly agreed. She opened the door, put her hands on his wheelchair, and guided them out of the room. "Good luck to the rest of you," she said over her shoulder. "And I really do mean that."

The door shut quietly behind them.

Rachel burst into tears. Finn looked hopelessly lost. Mike and Matt looked at each other, supremely uncomfortable, wondering why they couldn’t be as strong as Kurt Hummel. Puck was still smarting from Kurt's astute question, not wanting to consider an answer.

Will put his head in his hands and shut his eyes. He was unable to construct any defense to Kurt's arguments. He had no business acting as the moral police; he was still legally married to a woman he no longer loved nor trusted, and had been engaging in an emotional affair with one of his colleagues.

It was true he governed New Directions as an autocratic institution. He encouraged the kids to express their individuality, but not in public or at competition. He paired them up haphazardly rather than by complementary voices, and had been insensitive putting Kurt with Finn, on whom he knew Kurt had a hopeless crush.

Yes, he had tried to get them to open up to each other, but when had he taken the time to get to know them? Arguably, he knew Finn and Rachel well, but only because they had been the ones to initiate relationships. He did ignore the others in favor of them, and he had done so because he wanted to win, not because it was best for the club.

He should have seen this coming, he now realized. Kurt and Mercedes had strong personalities, and they were talented and knew it. They had tried to approach him before about their issues with the way he ran Glee, but he hadn't been receptive. He had always anticipated it would be Mercedes to explode in the middle of a rehearsal.

Never had he foreseen the cold, ruthless logic of Kurt’s oncoming storm.


End file.
